My Vision Test

MyVisionTest News Archive

A Blind Governor Adjusts, and So Does AlbanyIt is a phone number that just a handful of the governor’s senior aides know.

At the end of each day they call in and record briefings, laying out what he needs to know about the following day.

They recite his schedule, read talking points and explain the intricacies of issues likely to come up. They read memos from staff members and relate biographical details about the people he is likely to meet.

Lots of governors rely on thick briefing books and helpful e-mail notes from their staffs. New York’s governor, David A. Paterson, who is legally blind, has his ears and what his aides call his Batphone.

Usually at night, in the Executive Mansion or at his family’s home in Harlem, the governor listens to the recordings on the designated phone line. They run up to five minutes each and can pile up quickly, taking hours to absorb.

"Last night I had 43 messages, all of them five minutes in length," Mr. Paterson said in an interview. "That would be 215 minutes worth of material — over three hours."

To the general public, the transition to a governor who is legally blind has been almost imperceptible because Mr. Paterson, 53, acts in many ways like a person with 20-20 vision.

But behind the scenes, Albany is a different place since Mr. Paterson was sworn in last month. With a blind man in charge — the governor can see nothing out of his left eye and only color and large objects out of his right — everything from speech preparation to the instructions for the staff at the governor’s mansion has been custom-fitted to Mr. Paterson’s needs.

Staying on top of his work now takes a lot more time. He listens to recordings on a special tape recorder for the blind that plays at speeds so fast, it is difficult for others to comprehend. "You get used to listening to that Alvin and the Chipmunks voice," he said.

"The secret is how to adjust," he said. "I ask myself how am I going to fit into this world, and how am I going to do it without killing myself."

Although Mr. Paterson often says he does not want people to go out of their way for him, he says society should recognize that he and other blind people cannot do everything on their own.

As one of his first acts as governor, he added instructions to his official state Web site on how to enlarge the type on the screen.